


three words (eight letters)

by WickedHeadache



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheesy, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Texting, Tumblr Prompt, gal being pals, leslie is divorced thank god, public display of (platonic) affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-06 13:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20507594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedHeadache/pseuds/WickedHeadache
Summary: An accidental confession by text message leads to a series of incidents that make Tina's life a living hell.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt: Person A means to send a message to Person B saying “I love your hair” but it accidentally sends “I love you”. It turns out Person B loves them back. Not wanting to break the latter's heart, Person A asks them out. They date for six months before Person A they've fallen head over heels for Person B.
> 
> This is ridiculous but when I saw the prompt I couldn't help myself. It's been on my docs for months now so I've decided to just post it. Please let me know what you think.

_We both know I'm unlikeable_, the message says and she can't help but setting her jaw defiantly.

She is aware that Jonah leaving her has been a blow to Leslie's self-esteem — apparently, they went back long before Tina had ever met them and he's the only man Leslie has loved in her entire life — but she never, not once, thought Leslie could think of herself as unlikeable.

Heck, Tina is unlikeable, but she likes it that way. That's why she's so fearsome to everyone. But Leslie's charismatic, warm, she has a vibe that draws you to her, almost seductive. She is anything but unlikeable.

**Are you blind? **She texts back.

_Come on, tell me one thing that you like about me_, Tina can hear the teasing tone, but she takes it very seriously. She won't let Leslie go to sleep thinking she's not attractive at all.

**I love your hair**, she replies hesitantly. There is so much more she likes, but she can't say it without sounding weird. Or creepy. Tina likes her beauty, the way she looks at Karolina so fondly, the way her smile glints a bit too much and lights up the room Tina's in.

Then looks down at her phone and winces. The autocorrect has made an excellent move and sent **I love you **instead. Tina decides to laugh it off, tell Leslie that it was the autocorrect and forget it all, but before she can act, Leslie has sent another message:

_I love you, too_.

And, well, fuck, there's no way out of this situation now. **Talk to you tomorrow!**

_Sure :)_, it's Leslie's answer. Tina drags her hands to her face and sighs. She's an idiot.

* * *

Stacey and Dale are talking to her as if she wants them there. It’s no secret that they don’t like each other, so Tina is sure they’re doing this bad imitation of a country song just to spite her.

She, luckily, manages to tune them out, drinking heavily from her glass of wine, and lets her eyes wander across the room. Smirking amusedly, Leslie looks at her. She fake-glares at her before the woman mutters something to Catherine, eyes never lifting from Tina’s.

She walks towards the blonde, soon enough to catch her saying, “Everybody is here for a reason.” And Catherine smiles phonyly at her.

“Well, whatever reason that is, it’s stupid,” she can’t help but say as she arches an eyebrow at Catherine for her attitude.

The effect is immediate. The woman gulps, the smile disappearing as she looks away from her and at her husband. Meanwhile, Leslie rolls her eyes at her, as she usually does when Tina doesn’t take seriously Pride matters.

“It’s not worth it,” she adds. “Have you seen her brie? Smell your fingers.”

A hint of a smile appears on Leslie’s lips, imperceptible from anyone unless you know her and her microexpressions as well as Tina.

“I think it’s okay,” Geoffrey shrugs, dragging Tina’s gaze out of Leslie. She hears her clearing her throat.

“It’s time for me to go home. Karolina is waiting for me,” she says.

“So early?” She frowns.

“She’s been sick,” she offers as an excuse.

Tina nods, understanding completely. “Goodbye, then,” she says, and she doesn’t know what in the hell got into her to say what she says next, “love you.”

She hears a gasp, but all she can notice is the way Leslie’s face brightens slightly at the words.

“Love you, too,” Leslie waves her hand casually at everybody before leaving, swaying her hips more than usual as she gives her back at Tina and walks to the front door.

“When did that happen?” Geoffrey murmurs to his wife.

Tina gives her drink a big gulp, wondering how is she going to do to get out of this mess.

* * *

Tina buries her face in a cup of tea, sipping and letting the taste of Earl Grey dance around her tongue. Mmm, it's a pleasure. She doesn't really have much to do there. She can't just open her laptop and start working, it would be rude — and yes, she's never cared about rudeness, but this is important.

The girls — Nico and Karolina — have thought that they — “they” being she and Leslie, and the girls — should meet for brunch some day. As in a families brunch. Robert has refused to join them, saying that it will be a girls' meeting. Thus, she's obligated to attend it. Karolina and Nico are chatting while Leslie is mostly listening to them. Tina, however, is so _bored_.

By the quirk of Leslie's lips, she can tell the woman is having a great time. Her fingers are playing around her fork, barely using it to actually cut down the pancakes she has ordered, but when she does, a low moan escapes her throat, and Tina flushes and swallows, lifting her cup again to hide the red of her neck.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Leslie asks her, eyeing her cup of tea. She must have seen her staring.

Tina shakes her head, though she does wish she had ordered a colder drink. Her answer also has to do with the fact that she doesn't really have the time to eat anything. Not anymore, anyway. “I can't. In no time I'll have to go back to the office.”

“Oh,” Leslie says, her smile wavering as she nods understandingly. “Okay.”

Tina frowns. Where did that come from? She turns her head to Nico, who sits facing her. “And your dad is coming to pick you up in an hour,” she reminds her daughter.

“But, Mom!” She complains. “I have plans with Alex tonight.”

She raises her eyebrows in surprise. She's socializing more again. That is good. “You do?”

“You do?” Karolina says at the same time. She has the same look in her face that Leslie had when she find out Tina was leaving, her lips frozen in a ‘oh.’

Nico looks away, much like Tina did, and she's almost freaked out by the similarities between both generations.

Tina clears her throat, trying to retain her focus, and checks her clock, her eyes bulging out when she sees the time. She is five minutes late for a meeting with one of the minor companies she plans investing in.

“I gotta go,” she says, swallowing her tea. Tina kisses Karolina's, and then her daughter's cheek, muttering a quick ‘love you’ to her before doing the same with Leslie and leaving the coffee shop.

She misses the relieved, beaming smile appearing in Leslie's lips when she hears the words.

* * *

It was never meant to happen. The mere idea was simply revolting. Well, maybe not for Leslie, who is fond of physical contact, but not for Tina. Unless is for seduction or for children, Tina runs away with all she's got from physical affection. And yet, here she is.

They hug. They don't _do_ that. But it turns out they do. Leslie's arms wrap around her waist and Tina can't possibly pull her away. Her heart breaks at the thought of Leslie's dejected look — yes, she has found that's what the look means — when Tina rejects her. She's not that cruel. At least, not with Leslie. She has come to see what they have as something resembling of a friendship, and she doesn't think she's capable of throwing away yet another close relationship she has.

She is surrounded by Leslie's warm arms, overwhelmed by the citric scent of her perfume, and Tina can only wrap her arms around the other woman's shoulders, if not hesitantly, and hug her right back.

“Is that _Miss Dior_?” Leslie asks as she pulls back of their first hug ever, not looking at all as taken aback as Tina is.

It takes her a few seconds and a few blinks to process the question until she realizes Leslie is asking her about her perfume.

To Tina's chagrin, and possible doom, it doesn't stop there. Every time they meet, in one way or another, their arms end up around each other. Every time they say goodbye, it's with a quick, a well-thought, or a subconscious ‘I love you.’ Other people are noticing, too. Tina doesn't do hugs. It's common knowledge, and yet...

* * *

Tina wants to know what has she done to deserve this kind of hell. She gets it. She's mean to people and more than a bit terrifying. But the punishment isn't supposed to push you into more sin. Because, seriously, there's no other way to describe Leslie's dress than pure, unadulterated sin.

It hugs her every asset, it shows her cleavage, and it has a way-too-long slit on her left thigh. Tina is sure that if she were to embrace her (and she will), she would die. She doesn't know what her hands might do. Tina shakes her thoughts away. She has a husband, she shouldn't be thinking about Leslie, her friend, in that way.

The people fill the room, and the Gala is officially a success. It's the time for them, Pride, to give a speech. She smiles a little too hard, feeling Leslie's warm at her side even if she isn't even touching her. She tries not to lose her cool when Victor is talking and reveling all about Robert's affair, a wave of nausea hitting her, feeling him too close next to her.

She runs. She feels claustrophobic around so many people. They are all watching her, she knows. She is aware of what they're thinking, that she's a fool. Her husband has been cheating on her all this time and she never knew, never even suspected. She kept living in the blissful blindness of thinking they'd eventually work things out.

He betrayed her, though. Everyone knew that now. Even Leslie knew. Tina can't face her. The woman is probably looking for her, but she can't stand the thought of anyone finding her and see how she truly feels. The office is safe, cold like always, and somehow perfect to just stand and look outside at the world. How big one feels looking down on those tiny people, seeming like they might get hit by one of those small cars at any seconds. It's perfect to relax. And cry.

What is she supposed to do? Leave him? Maybe now that it's public, he'll leave Janet and try to fix their marriage. She could give him another chance. Does she want to, though? He betrayed and publicly humiliated her. Does she want to take him back?

Tina doesn't know shit.

_Are you okay? _A text from Leslie makes her phone buzz.

**What do you think?** She thinks on answering, but deletes it a second later. She types, **I'll be.**

_I'm here for you._

That makes Tina smile, just a bit. **I know**, she says, though she didn't. She's glad she does now. Leslie will always be there, she learns then. **Love you**, she writes, this time meaning it entirely. She realizes it's easier than anything she has ever done, loving Leslie.

_Love you, too_.

* * *

When her eyes are finally dry from tears, Tina can only be thankful for waterproof makeup as she goes back to the Gala. A blank glare takes place on her face, scaring off anyone who might dare to look her way or make a comment. She needs to be graceful and endure the rest of the event.

She doesn't even comment on her employees playing with Robert's gift when she steps out of the elevator. She's too angry at him to even care about his gifts. She avoids Nico, she avoids Chase, she avoids Robert, and stays close to the exit.

Then a drink is placed in her hands before she realizes it, and Leslie is standing in front of her with a gentle smile. “You look like you need it.”

“Thanks,” she barely has the strength to return the smile like she means it. She eyes the glass of Champagne before drinking down half of it.

“If you wanna run, just give the word,” Leslie offers her. And Tina looks up, far more moved by it than she should.

She chuckles, humorlessly. “I appreciate the offer but...” she shakes her head. “I’m just so angry.”

“Believe me, if I were in your shoes, I would have already thrown his clothes out of the window,” Leslie puts a comforting arm around her waist, and she leans on her touch.

“It’s not the worst idea.”

“I know everything looks confusing right now,” Leslie starts tracing circles on the small of her back. Tina can't help but rest her head in the woman's shoulder. “You were there for me when I divorced Frank, despite what everybody thought of my actions. You always had the same view I have. So forget about what you should or shouldn't do, forget about everyone else's needs and think, what do _you_ need?”

She looks at Leslie from her place in her shoulder, then drags her gaze down to the floor. But what she needs, Tina thinks, it's what she can't have.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I've been obsessed with The X Files lately, so I apologise beforehand for the amount of references I wrote into the chapter.

She lets the scent of vanilla invade her nostrils as she lays back on the bathtub, bubbles surrounding and covering her body. Leslie's had a hard day. After getting in a fight with Karolina, she had the bad luck of finding her ex-husband outside the church. Frank, being Frank, had nothing better to do a Monday morning than making a scene. People had still been in the church.

She pressed her eyes shut. So embarrassing. One would think that divorcing him would mean getting rid of him, but as it seems, it will never be possible. Frank is just the constant pain in her ass she never needs, especially right now.

Her phone starts ringing and she opens her eyes, shakes her head in a poor attempt to push locks of hair that have fallen out of her ponytail off her face. A subconscious smile appears on her lips when she spots the name of the caller. She takes her phone immediately and puts it in the ear.

“Hello, Tina. What do I owe this call to?”

“Boredom?” She hears Tina's voice, admitting with an easy carelessness. “Robert just left. For good.”

“Oh.”

Tina chuckles. “Drop the tone. You make it sound like he just died.”

“Don’t be silly,” she blushes. She's just lucky Tina isn't there to see her. Then the image of the woman in the bathtub with her comes to mind and her face turns redder. 

“Where are you?”

“In my home,” Leslie says, and quickly thinks of an excuse. “You caught me about to start on dinner.”

“If you're busy I can-”

“Don’t finish that line of thought, please,” she says. “You know it's always a pleasure.” It seems like Tina clears her throat, but she ignores it. “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking a bubble bath,” Tina says so bluntly that it takes a while lot of effort for Leslie not to splutter. She does, however, cough. “You okay?”

“Yes!” She says, and tries not to sound judgemental when she asks, “You are calling me from a bubble bath?”

“Is this the part where I ask you what are you wearing?”

Her heart skips a beat. “What?”

Tina, the asshole, cackles out loud. “I’m kidding, relax. I swear to God, sometimes your religiousness slips right through your rigidness.”

“It has nothing to do with religion,” she rolls her eyes. Tina could be hard-headed sometimes. “You can be the most religious person in the world and have the most liberal ideals. The mere idea that personality traits are related to anything but nature and nurture is contradictory to everything that psychology knows about the human mind and right down anti-scientific.”

“Leslie…”

“Yes?”

“What are you wearing?”

That makes her laugh out loud. Then she feels a bit bold and says: “Nothing.”

Tina is silent for a few seconds. “I’m not going to ask you if you just said what I think you just said because I know you said it. You are cooking nude?” She says disbelievingly.

“No,” she puffs her chest dignified. “I’m taking a bath.”

“You too?”

“Yes. And, by the way, I feel like getting my privacy now.”

“Alright. Bye, then.”

“And I am not rigid!”

Tina's voice is dripping with amusement, yet indulgent. “Sure you aren't. Talk to you later.”

“Love you,” she calls out last second.

“Love you, too.”

She lays back in the bathtub and closes her eyes, a self-satisfied sigh leaving her lips. There's a small smile on her face that she can't put down.

* * *

Pieces of glass spray around the floor as soon as the glass of wine makes contact with it. She closes her eyes abruptly at the sound, hands pressed into fists as hard as she suppresses the urge to curse.

“Sorry!” She calls out at Tina. “Broke a glass. I'll pick it up, don't worry.”

“What the hell did you do to my kitchen?” Tina's voice sounds closer and stronger.

She doesn't answer. She knows Tina doesn't care all that much about the kitchen floor and is probably saying that in a light manner, but Leslie isn't in the mood to smile even to Tina being Tina. That's a new one. 

She can feel her presence when she appears in the kitchen and stands on the doorway, observing her squatting to pick up the broken glass. Leslie looks up for just a second to find her with her arms crossed and a frown set between her brows. She tries to ignore it for about five seconds before she _ has _ to mention it.

“Are you going to stand there and watch?” She says with a deadpanning expression. “Do I look like I'm having fun down here?”

“You look constipated, actually,” Tina says. And before Leslie can tell what's going on, there is a hand on her arm forcing her to stand up. “Let me.”

Leslie shakes her head slightly, prepared to decline, but when her gaze sets on Tina's, she notices the soft look she carries and steps aside. That doesn't stop her from saying: “I got it.”

“You are on edge,” she states bluntly, squatting. “Why? Can't handle a dirty floor?”

“I saw Jonah today.”

That freezes Tina for half a second before she continues to pick glass up like she heard nothing.

“How so?” 

“It was nothing,” she says quickly with one unconvincing smile. “He was in a land I was visiting. We are planning to use it in a new church installation. He just happened to be the owner. It was quite the uncomfortable encounter, to say the least.”

“I bet,” Tina mutters. “That is why you are upset, I assume.”

“I am not that affected, it's just-” she sighs, shakes her head and smiles once again. “It was nothing.”

“Well, then, if you are not overwhelmed with nostalgia, can you pass me a mop?” Tina stands up, running her hands through her skirt to cleanse it from wrinkles. It is then that Leslie realizes there is no more glass on the floor, and that there's a drop of red wine smeared in Tina's left cheekbone. “Leslie?”

“You have a…” she signals to her own cheek.

Tina's hand flies up to her face, yet it misses its target. “What?”

“Wine. No- To the left-” she steps forward when Tina fails to wash it away. Tina stares at her from the moment she gets into her personal space but she doesn't notice it. Her hand falls slowly from her face as Leslie's replaces it, cupping her cheek while her thumb brushes the wine away. “There.”

She locks eyes with Tina and the look the woman is giving her takes her breath away. She feels it reaching deep into her soul but she doesn't dare questioning it. Not too much, anyway. She lets her hand fall, then puts her thumb into her mouth and sucks it clean. She doesn't even pretend she isn't aware of Tina looking at her lips right now. 

Sadly, she has to step away and clear her throat. “I’ll go for a mop.”

* * *

That was… really, truly stupid. She has been ridiculously attracted to this woman for months, maybe even for over a year, and yet she seems unable to make a move. It isn't like her to get tongue-tied and back away cowardly from flirting — or at least she pretends it isn't now that it's happening to her. 

If she wants something, she always gets it. So this constant not-knowing-what-the-hell-she-is-doing every-time-she-is-around-Tina is getting frustrating.

She groans loudly, thinking again about the last time Tina hugged her and muttered ‘I love you’ to her ear so soft and truthful, placing a small kiss in her cheek before waking away. It's so _ stupid _. Stupid to the point it is driving her insane. She should've just turned her head around and made their lips meet, or simply kiss her in that kitchen. Anything but keeping walking through the Platonic Hell of Sisterly Love.

She can tell Tina is somewhat attracted to her, although she's spectacular at hiding it, so she can't guess for the life of her why hasn't she tried anything. Maybe she isn't really interested, as attraction doesn't equal interest, or isn't ready. 

Leslie sighs. She should stop thinking about it and leave it alone.

* * *

When her phone starts ringing and it's Tina calling, she will never admit to her she sighs in relief. Pride has decided that they should send _ her _, of all people, not one of the thousands of volunteers that would do literally anything if they requested it, to visit a extremely low class neighborhood during the opening of a new soup kitchen. She would have normally delegated, but Pride insisted that she should go, make a good image out of Pride.

She is now considered a lot of her life decisions if that's what led her to stand where she currently is. She's out of place in her expensive dress and starting to feel self-conscious about it, especially since she has seen more than a few kids eyeing her bracelet and her purse.

Leslie looks around in an attempt to remind herself: she's not alone, the Church is with her, which means she has security with her. She puts her chin up slightly. This is what she does.

Still, she hopes Tina is calling to tell her they don't need her to be there. Nonetheless, she doesn't expect it. She picks up the phone.

“Tina, when you find me dead, my desiccated corpse propped up staring lifelessly at the blue sky in the middle of a dirty street, deprived of my personal items, just know that my last thoughts were of you... and how I'd like to kill you.”

There's a silence on the other line, and she just knows Tina is having a hard time not laughing. “I'm sorry. Who is this?”

She doesn't roll her eyes, barely. “I wouldn't be surprised if when I go back home my wallet is missing. Why am I here again?”

“It looks better if a member of a church goes there,” Tina says matter-of-factly. “If I were there, those people would think ‘what is that rich bitch doing here.’”

“I don't know about that…” She looks around nervously. “You know, this could all be avoided if we had sent a delegate.”

“You know why we can't do that.”

“Fine!” She says snappishly. “Whatever. But if I never come back, it's on you.”

“And I love you, too, Leslie,” Tina says, not even trying to disguise her amusement. “I’ll talk to you later.”

* * *

“I give up!” Karolina groans dramatically.

Leslie hadn't even sensed she was there. She takes an unconscious step backwards, as she isn't exactly comfortable standing so close to Tina with her daughter in the room. They weren't doing anything, though, just talking — and then Tina had started to hold her hand spontaneously, but that's not the point.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” She asks Karolina, whose face seems to be turning a frustrated shade of red. 

The girl's eyes widen and she points at them with clear despair. “This! This is all wrong. It's getting ridiculous. Honestly, get together,” she turns around and stomps away.

Leslie just stares in bewilderment. She has never seen Karolina so… out of herself before. She's so caught off guard by her daughter's tone that it took her awhile to actually think about what she said.

She looks at Tina, who is already observing her. “What do you think she means?” She says.

Tina, however, is having none of it, because she shakes her head and lets out a low chuckle before putting a hand in the back of Leslie's neck and pulling her into a kiss. And, good God, she's not able of thought processing anymore. She hums against Tina's lips, deepening the kiss just a little before Tina pulls back.

“I figure she meant that,” Tina says.

She gives her a look, but takes Tina's hand back into hers right away. Tina shoots her the softest of smiles and she can't help but beam back at her.

“So… Will you have dinner with me sometime?”

Tina raises her brows in amusement. “Yes, Leslie. I’ll have dinner with you.”

“Good,” she breathes out in relief. She has no idea how she did to ask her without passing out.


End file.
